System, apparatus and method for enabling mobility to virtual communities via personal and group forums

Abstract

A system and associated apparatus and methods for enabling members of a group or virtual community to create and access voice messages, audio, video, text or other content over the Internet. The invention provides a model of a voice bulletin board or forum in which multiple members of a group may create and post messages or other content that may be accessed, commented upon, or supplemented by other group members. The invention enables group members to input the message or content using a fixed-line (e.g., wireline) or wireless device, such as a standard phone, wireless mobile phone, or wirelessly connected computing device equipped with a microphone. The invention further enables a group member to create a forum and provide access to that forum to other group members, and to provide notifications to group members when new messages or content are posted to the forum.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application is related to and claims the benefit of the following United States Provisional Patent Applications, the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference: U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 773,041 entitled “Voice Forums” and filed Feb. 14, 2006, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 773,042 entitled “Web Authorization by Automated Interactive Phone or VoIP Session” and filed Feb. 14, 2006, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 773,229 entitled “Interactive Messaging System” and filed Feb. 14, 2006, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 773,230 entitled “Apparatus and Method for Obtaining Audio Content for a Web Application by Dialing Out to a Phone” and filed Feb. 14, 2006.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention is directed to systems, apparatus and methods for enabling groups of individuals to communicate over a wireline, wireless, and / or internet-enable...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0020] The present invention is directed to a system and associated apparatus and methods for enabling members of a group or virtual community to create, manage, and access voice messages, audio, video, text or other content over the Internet. The invention provides a model of a voice bulletin board or forum in which multiple members of a group may create and post messages, audio, video, or other content that may be accessed, commented upon, or supplemented by other group members. The invention enables group members to input the message or content using a fixed-line (e.g., wireline) or wireless device, such as a standard phone, wireless mobile phone, or wirelessly connected computing device equipped with a microphone, camera, or video-camera. The invention further enables a group member to create a forum and provide access to that forum to other group members, and to provide notifications to group members when new messages or content are posted to the forum.

[0021] As the inventors of the present invention have recognized, it is currently difficult for groups of users who are distributed throughout the world and connected by a network such as the Internet to communicate with other members of their virtual community by voice, audio, or video using their Internet connection and fixed or mobile phone systems. The present invention is designed to provide a useful, convenient, and flexible way for users anywhere in the world, at anytime, to create, publish, and share multimedia content, and in doing so to satisfy the growing need for self-expression, group communication, and knowledge sharing for users of both the Internet and phone-based systems.

[0022] In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method of enabling members of a virtual community to interact via a communication forum, where the method includes enabling a first member of the community to establish a forum account, where the account is established at least in part by accessing a web-site over the Internet, enabling the first member of the community to provide content associated with the forum account, where the content includes audio content input to a telephony device, enabling a second member of the virtual community to access the content provided by the first member, enabling the second member to respond to the content provided by the first member by providing responsive content, providing a notification to the first member that the second member has provided responsive content, and enabling the first member of the community to access the responsive content.

Problems solved by technology

Further, in such communities, there is an implied reciprocity obligation between members that serves as an unwritten social contract between community members.

And, although the ability to interact instantaneously at any time from anywhere on the globe has considerable benefits, in some situations virtual communities have generated criticism from individuals who are accustomed to more traditional forms of communication.

There is some reason for concern as virtual communities may be mis-used to serve as hunting grounds for online criminals, identity thieves, and stalkers, with children particularly at risk.

Some fear that spending too much time in virtual communities may have negative repercussions on real-world interaction.

However, software and tools that support open communication and the formation of virtual communities are typically lacking this combination of core features.

Typically, those with the fastest Internet connections tend to tire of simple text-based communication.

However, the quality of the experience is usually impacted by the Internet connections of each participant.

People with slow connections tend to have poor, delayed communications with their peers, while people with fast Internet connections tend to have an experience comparable to communicating over a land-line phone.

Further, the growth in adoption of computer / microphone based communication between online members of virtual communities has been stymied by the difficulty in using the required hardware, the difficulty in properly installing and using the software, and most importantly, the fact that most members of the community tend to not have the capability to communicate in this manner.

The same problems apply in the case of community members' attempts to communicate via a video channel.

Thus, although such systems provide a way to produce and access voice messages, they do have limitations and disadvantages.

For example, for groups, or people whose primary connection to the group is through the Internet, this is inconvenient.

Further, such systems limit the ability for certain types of group dynamics and interactions to occur.

The normal exchange of comments or information that occurs within a group (a “many to many” model) is difficult if not impossible to effectively simulate with such systems.

Other disadvantages of typical voice mail systems include: (1) If a voice mail message is deleted by any user, all users are unable to hear it; (2) The only way to leave a message is by dialing a known or shared phone number; and (3) The only way to listen to a message is by dialing a known or shared phone number.

Combined with disadvantages (2) and (3) above, such systems offer little to no security or privacy for the owners of the voice messaging system if all users of that system must have the owners' personal phone numbers in order to use the system.

Even with the advancements and continuing proliferation of VoIP services, some problems still remain.

One problem is that a vast majority of the VoIP applications available require a powerful enough computing device to run the necessary software.

Typically, these users leverage public or paid wireless (WiFi) connections, which tend to be less reliable than their personal (at home) connections.

In other words, the cumbersome nature of using VoIP and the cost associated with the necessary hardware and peripherals, particularly while mobile, has been and will continue to be a barrier to the adoption of VoIP for use in enabling communication among active members of social networks.

In addition, presently available VoIP based communications applications are designed for real-time audio communications, and are therefore less desirable for some use cases, such as group members in different time zones or group discussions that evolve over the course of many days or weeks.

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